Brother Kimball made reference this morning to the Bible, and I am reminded of an Article of our Faith, which says that we believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly. We also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
While he was quoting this article of our belief, the thought came into my mind, how often has it been quoted in the mission field, and how frequently have our enemies and those who have not accepted our faith criticized us in making reference to the Bible and qualifying it by saying that we believe it as far as it is translated correctly. “O, yes,” say they, “you Latter-day Saints believe the Bible when it is convenient for you to accept of it, but when it is not convenient, then you fall back upon the provision which says “as far as it is translated correctly.”
In giving this article of faith the Prophet Joseph Smith was inspired by our Heavenly Father. Suppose for a moment that he had left out that condition. The question would at once arise, Which Bible do you Latter-day Saints believe in? Do you believe in the King James translation of the Bible, or do you believe in the revised edition? Do you accept the Catholic Bible, or the one that was translated by Martin Luther in the German language? There are a great many different editions of the holy scriptures; which of these Bibles do you believe in? Because in many particulars the translations are at variance, and do not always agree. There was inspiration in the putting in of that condition.
We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly; and when it has not been translated correctly, we do not believe in that. To all intents and purposes, however, the Bible which is common among us is accepted by the Latter-day Saints as the word of God. When you refer to the Book of Mormon, however, you say that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, without any clarification.
We believe that holy men of old spake and wrote as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and that which they spoke and wrote was the word of God; and if that has been handed down to us in its purity, we accept it as being the word of God.
– Rulon S. Wells, 1903
I remember fondly a Primary class that I was to teach this concept of the Bible being translated correctly. I brought all 10 of the Bible editions that are on my study shelf, and I explained that they were all different translations and so some passages sounded totally different. I had about 10 passages marked so we could read them from each translation. The children, 10 year olds, were shocked at how different the same verse could be from one translation to another. Then we reread that Article of Faith, and it made sense to them. One of my funest Primary lessons ever.
Good job, Bruce!